


That Time Matatabi Changed History by Being Curious

by Foodmoon



Series: Oddball fics [18]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crack, Gen, Matatabi clan, Mysterious disappearances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:49:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16513118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foodmoon/pseuds/Foodmoon
Summary: A timeline where Matatabi happens to have the territory near the Uchiha and Senju instead of Kurama.OrWherein Matatabi severely disapproves of kit killing and decides to do something about it.





	That Time Matatabi Changed History by Being Curious

**Author's Note:**

> **This is a one-shot. It will not be continued.**  
>  However, feel free to borrow the idea.

Unsurprisingly, it started with a cat.

Well, perhaps it surprises if one is under the impression it started with a fox.

To be fair, in other timelines it _did_ start with a fox, a grumpy, angry fox who had learned to hate humans and so forth. But this time it started with a cat. Now, raccoon dogs and foxes have reputations as tricksters, but the fox was too arrogant and fond of naps to bother unless trapped and the raccoon dog, while quite good at it, too obsessed with being flashily powerful to bother unless trapped. One of those little quirks that showed how clearly they were brothers. But cats are also tricksters, and moreover, incurably curious and easily amused by playing mindgames with humans.

Matabi was curious about the human clowders who often fought near her territory, but humans have a terrible habit of attacking things that they sense are far more powerful, and she did not wish to have to kill the humans just to satisfy her curiosity. So after some contemplation, she broke off a portion of her chakra, a very small portion, and disguised it as an ordinary cat.

The humans called their clowders clans, she quickly learned, then was amused at herself for forgetting her father had called his own family a clan. Clearly she had spent too much time conversing solely with other cats if she had forgotten so much of human customs. Well, no matter.

Over time, having little bits of herself observing the humans in the area became habit. The ones that breathed fire and the ones with many, many techniques were particularly feisty, squabbling often over territory or pride. Though she disapproved soundly of their more recent habit of hunting each other’s kits down as sport.

So, it started with a cat.

~

For Hashirama, it started with his last brother’s disappearance. Tobirama had defended him from their father’s wrath over Hashirama’s opinions over Itama’s grave, and then a few days later, Tobirama was just…gone. Without a trace.

There is no sign of his blood or his body anywhere to indicate his death, no sign of a struggle, and despite his skill, Tobirama is still young and not sneaky enough to leave _no_ trail at all to track.

At first, Butsuma assumes that the Uchiha have kidnapped or killed his favorite son, and his rage at them is frightening to behold. But there is no demand for ransom or concessions, no gloating, no sign that Tajima is anything but surprised by his sudden ferocity. Finally, he concludes that it was either some other clan or his favorite son had come to some mysterious end. In response, he turns his attention on Hashirama, determined that the oldest, strongest, and softest of his sons _will_ survive.

For the first time, Hashirama realizes how much his younger brother’s mere presence spared him. His father’s training is brutal and exhausting. The Senju are known as the clan of a thousand techniques for a reason, and those Butsuma does not know personally, he has other clan members teach his heir, determined that the lack of one technique will not be his heir’s downfall.

Hashirama barely has time to rest, much less dream of peace. He’s intelligent, but he’s a dreamer, someone who sees practicalities that everyone else is too blinded by hatred to consider. He does not possess Tobirama’s quicksilver intelligence and hunger for knowledge. Learning is one thing; learning vast amounts of information with no break gives him headaches.

He rarely has time to get away, and when he does, there’s no sneaking involved. Butsuma knows full well that he goes down to the river to sleep off his occasional full-out migraines. He still manages to cross paths with Madara, and they still meet occasionally, but it’s not as often. No one in either family has reason to suspect them. They still share a dream of peace, but there’s more hard practicality about it on Hashirama’s part. Losing his last brother has changed him. Having to be heir without Tobirama running interference has forced him to become more aware of not only his own weaknesses, but other flaws in the clan system.

Hashirama misses Tobirama more than ever.

~

For Tobirama, it starts with getting lost after Itama’s funeral.

Well, not _lost_ -lost. His sensor technique isn’t that great yet, but as a natural sensor he can flare out his senses the natural way and identify the general location of the cluster of Senju signatures that means home. But he doesn’t want to. He’d come out here to get away for a time, to grieve for his last younger brother. Still, sure he can find home with some effort, but he also doesn’t recognize anything here. It’s unlikely that he’ll be bothered here, at least. It’s not on the Uchiha side of their territory and he’s better at hiding his chakra signature than anyone knows, so following his trail would take some creativity.

He’s about to sit down and spend some time here when he suddenly comes face to face with a blue cat nearly twice his size. Though…cat might not be the correct term, really, given the closely contained feel of a mass of chakra.

“You’re not a cat.” He blurts.

She laughs at him. “I am Matatabi. Or a piece of her, if you like. You are correct and incorrect, kit. I am a bijuu, but I most definitely am a cat.”

“You can talk!?”

“Did you think bijuu mere beasts, kit? Our father was the Sage of Six Paths. Of course we can talk. And you, little Senju kit, you’re a strong one. Are you the Clan heir?”

Tobirama gulps, pretty sure that a bijuu knowing that much about him is a bad idea, but that lying would be a worse one. “No, that’s my older brother.”

“Oh, excellent. I’ve been meaning to adopt a human kit.”

_What!?_

He flinches as she moves suddenly, but she just nudges him off-balance, then picks him up by the back of his yukata and suddenly they’re flying through the forest with such speed that it’s nearly dizzying. Instead of trying to get away, he concentrates on not hitting branches with carelessly out-flung limbs, even though he’s aware that he probably looks like a kitten cringing in her hold. When she finally drops him, it’s at the feet of a much, much larger version of herself that she promptly merges with.

“Oomph!” Spitting out grass, he pushes himself up to a sitting position, not quite trusting his balance to standing yet. “You can’t adopt me.” He informs her, by now thoroughly annoyed at being catnapped.

She laughs at him again, this time the sound rumbling around him, a vivid reminder of her size. “I believe I just have, kit. And given the amount of effort the Uchiha and the Senju put into killing each other’s kits, you should be glad of it.”

That hits him hard. Hasn’t he just lost Itama to that very thing? “But anija! I can’t keep Hashirama safe if I’m here.”

“Little kit, let me explain something to you. There is no kit better protected than a clan’s heir. With you gone, the adults in your clan will be _more_ protective of him than with you still there as a backup. Your anija is safer with you gone than with a little kitten like you there trying to protect him, because of yet, you are no match for an Uchiha adult. The only kit a clan as a whole does not hold as disposable is their heir. Is this not true?”

 _It…is._ He knows she’s right, but he’s never heard it spelled out so bluntly. _Still…_ “Hashirama will be sad.”

“Will he be sadder to see you truly dead than to simply _think_ you dead?”

… “No.” He finally admits. _Hashirama seeing him dead might actually be worse._ Not that he has any intention of dying, but… _neither did Itama or Kawarama_.

“Don’t worry, kit. I disapprove of this killing kits business and plan to adopt all the spare kits I can get my paws on. So you won’t be alone. But you’ll always be my first human kit, ne?”

Tobirama considers this. Finally, he asks cautiously, “Do I call you Matatabi-san or kaa-san?”

“Kaa-san would please me very much, kit.” She replies with a hint of a ground-trembling purr.

~

For Madara, it began with a trio of cats and the boy at the river. He has no idea where the trio of cats come from. The littlest one is half black and half white, the middle sized one is light brown with an x-shaped scar over the right side of its face, and the largest is a silvery white with red eyes. The smaller two have almost-black eyes.

He doesn’t _think_ they’re nin cats, but they’re certainly intelligent creatures. They hiss at anyone who is in one of the child-hunting squads, and the largest actually attacks Tajima when he tries to pet the smallest one while talking about how well the latest battle against the Senju went. That leads to a somewhat amusing moment as Tajima first shakes off the cat, then tries to fry it, only to miss repeatedly because it’s terribly quick and agile, and only stops when he realizes he’s making himself a spectacle over a mere _pet_. As if to rub it in, they’re very friendly with Madara and anyone who has a less hostile attitude towards the Senju clan, along with most of the women and children. Almost as if the cats have an opinion on the long-standing feud between the clans.

 _But that’s ridiculous_.

He doesn’t begin to doubt that it’s mere coincidence until he trips over the boy at the river and listens to him talk of his dream of peace and describe his dead little brothers with heartfelt longing. Madara responds in turn, of course, but somehow the descriptions sound eerily familiar. When he returns home and finds the trio of cats seemingly waiting for him on his bed, he freezes, staring at them. The little one half-black, half-white, the brown one with the scar, and the white one with the sharingan-red eyes.

After a long minute, he shakes his head. _No, the cats can’t possibly be the ghosts of Hashirama’s brothers. Can they?_ But the thought lingers with him. The cats’ almost inexplicable attitudes towards various clan members would make so much more sense if they were ghosts. _Of course they aren’t._ But it somehow feels a little _too_ right when he renames them ‘Itama’, ‘Kawarama’, and ‘Tobirama’.

And if he gets a few funny looks from those aware of the Senju main family’s tradition of naming? Well, no one says anything.

~

For Izuna, it begins when he thinks he sees his mother’s ghost and follows her because he barely remembers her, but he misses her _so much_. It’s not until he’s being carried away by a _very_ large cat that he realizes that it must have been a genjutsu, cast with such precision that only he noticed it. At first, he’s terrified, because this must be a summons of some enemy clan, probably wanting to get their hands on the sharingan which…he _doesn’t have yet._

At least, he thinks that right up until he’s dropped at the paws of a very large…cat. “B-Bijuu!” he stammers, shocked.

“Very observant, Uchiha kit.” The massive blue cat says, obviously amused. “I am Matatabi.”

“Bijuu have _names!?_ Wh-What do you want wi-with me?”

She- _She?_ She laughs. “Of course we have names. Our father, the Sage of Six Paths _did_ name us. And as for what I ‘want’, I’m adopting you, human kit. Think of it this way. Your brother will be much safer with you gone, because your father will put more effort into keeping his favorite and only son alive. And _you_ will be safer because you won’t have to fight shinobi three times your age.”

“Bu-But, I’m a shinobi too! And I c-can’t run away. That’d make me a traitor!”

“Wow. Uchihas really _are_ stupid, aren’t they?”

Izuna flinches at the young voice and looks around wildly, staring in shock when a boy a little smaller than him comes out from behind one of Matatabi’s paws with a longsuffering look on his face. “You look like my brother’s cat!”

The silver haired boy blinks red eyes at him, then shrugs. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Besides, you’re not an Uchiha anymore. You’re kaa-san’s kit now.”

“Kaa-san?” Izuna asks blankly.

“Me.” Matatabi explains when it becomes obvious that the silver-haired boy isn’t going to elucidate.

~

Tajima blames the Senju for Izuna’s disappearance, but the Senju don’t gloat, and children keep disappearing from both clans to the point that it becomes clear that some other force is at work. But rage and grief has driven both clans to the point of madness they can only expend on their traditional enemies and the day comes when Tajima and Butsuma manage to kill each other on the battlefield.

There is a moment of horrified, stunned stillness on both sides of the bloodied field as Hashirama and Madara stare at each other over locked weapons. As the route of the future hangs in the balance. The moment stretches, stretches. And both men start to move to pull back, weary grief in their eyes as they realize they _can’t_ take this opportunity without their clans turning on them.

“Don’t be stupid!” a young voice snaps from between them, carrying clearly to all on the battlefield.

Hashirama looks down and sees the black cat that has adopted him some time back along with a white cat he doesn’t recognize.

Madara looks down and sees his cat and a strange black cat somehow _here_ , far from where he’d expect to see a cat. Somehow he _knows_ the voice belongs to _his_ cat.

“Tobirama? What-?”

“That goes for you, too.” The black cat addresses Hashirama in a different young voice.

“Fuzzy?” Hashirama asks in astonishment.

The black cat swipes at him with claws showing. “The name is Izuna. Idiot.”

Then both cats’ forms twist and grow until they become young shinobi, barely old enough to see combat. One with silver hair and red eyes, the other with black hair and black eyes. The two boys turn then, ignoring gasps and curses from Senju and Uchiha alike as they are recognized.

“You swore you were going to end the needless deaths. Did you lie?” Tobirama accuses Hashirama.

“And you? Do you truly want to make the Uchiha Curse of Hatred spread further as kinsmen die for a pointless war?” Izuna asks Madara.

“Know this.” Tobirama continues. “This silly feud is no longer any business of ours.”

“But until this shameful business of killing kits ceases.” Izuna adds.

“The kits of your clans will continue to disappear.” The two boys who cannot be anything but ghosts say together, their voices echoing over the field of frozen ninjas.

Then their forms twist again and sink back into the harmless shapes of cats and Izuna claws his way up Hashirama’s clothing to perch on his shoulder, while Tobirama leaps and lands neatly on Madara’s shoulder, half-hidden by his spikey black hair.

Hashirama and Madara shudder, a motion echoed by most others on the field in the wake of the uncanny encounter, and step back, studying each other and each other’s cats intently.

Finally, Hashirama lowers his weapon and holds out his hand. “Shall we make peace for the sake of our brothers?”

Madara hmphs and lowers his own weapon. “Fine. Your terms better be good ones, Senju.”

He cautiously takes Hashirama’s hand and tries to ignore the warmth Hashirama’s brilliant smile sparks in his chest.

“As long as yours are, Uchiha.” Hashirama agrees. For the first time in years, his dream seems more like reality than a hopeless fantasy. “We both want a safe place to raise our children, do we not?”

“Hn. Perhaps a village.” Madara offers, knowing the Uchiha will take it better if the idea apparently comes from him.

Hashirama beams and uses his grip on his hand to yank Madara into a bearhug. “What a great idea! We can even invite other clans!”

“Ugh. Fine! Let go, you giant oaf!” _Madara would like to breathe, thank you very much!_

Madara’s flailing is entirely ignored by Hashirama’s exuberance until Hashirama jerks back with a yelp, three thin lines of blood across his nose. Confused, he sees Tobirama ostentatiously licking blood off his claws, and laughs at Hashirama’s pout. “Serves you right, idiot.”

“There’s no reason to be _mean_ , Tobirama.” Hashirama chides.

The cat just gives him a disdainful look.

~

And if the ninjas of Konoha happened upon a new clan called the Matatabi clan under the protection of a bijuu a few years later? Well, that’s a story for another time.

**Author's Note:**

> No, the cats are not Tobirama and Izuna in disguise. They’re Matatabi clones, and the boys served as the originals to copy from. It’s a plan Tobirama and Matatabi came up with and Izuna helped them with a bit later on. The ‘cats’ stayed as cats after that because Matatabi uses those bits of herself to keep tabs on the clans.
> 
> Izuna and Tobirama squabble a lot, particularly at first, but they’re far from the last children to be summarily adopted by Matatabi will-they-nill-they and they end up too busy taking care of and leading the others to bother truly fighting. Matatabi does not limit herself to just Senju and Uchiha children either. Most of them quickly end up calling her ‘kaa-san’.  
> By the time Konoha runs into them, none of them have any attachment to their original clans left, other than fondness for a few close loved ones, and refuse to admit their almost ridiculously obvious origins or answer to the clans who are more than a little outraged to see their bloodline limits outside of their control. It’s a little hard to successfully argue the point when the other party is backed by a protective bijuu, and their Hokage and his closest advisor flatly refuse to try helping them enforce their opinions. (Evil author laughter.)


End file.
